Igor Faynberg

Overview of data and telecommunications security standardization efforts in ISO, IEC, ITU, and IETF

With the continuing growth of data communications — and especially the Internet and its integration with telecommunications — security matters have become increasingly important. In particular, the development of high-speed packet data communications over air interfaces and their folding into the overall converged networks present an ever increasing set of security issues for major network providers and for enterprise (information technology) environments as well. International and national standards bodies have thus focused on a broad range of subjects applicable to security. Over time, these major standards bodies have become interdependent. In this paper, we address the major efforts of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) through Joint Technical Committee 1 (JTC 1) and also the efforts of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). We undertake specifically to explain the interdependence of efforts undertaken by these organizations, whose work defines the direction in the international data and telecommunications security standards in a significant way.

The emerging resource and admission control function standards and their application to the new triple-play services

The next-generation network (NGN) is characterized by, among other characteristics, the prevalent use of the Internet Protocol (IP) for end-to-end packet transfer. In contrast to todays specialized networks optimized for specific applications, NGN is a general multiservice network that must meet a wide range of application performance needs and security requirements. The key to fulfilling this complex duty is a dynamic, policy-based resource management framework, known as the Resource and Admission Control Functions (RACF). This paper discusses the relevant standardization efforts and provides a vision for the future work in the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), 3rd Generation Partnership Projects (3GPP∗ and 3GPP2), Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), and European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). The discussion is illustrated by the applications of the RACF architecture to the new triple-play services: high-speed Internet, IP television (video on demand or regular broadcasts), and telephone service over a single broadband connection.